Costa Rica national rugby union team

Costa Rica national rugby union team

Nickname	Ticos
Union	Federación de Rugby de Costa Rica (FRCR)
Head coach	Miguel Castillo
Captain	Leonardo Muñoz Recalde
First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	99 (as of 4 November 2024)
Highest	93 (23 November 2020)
Lowest	100 (2024)
First international
Costa Rica 60–0 Panama  (19 February 2005)
Biggest win
Costa Rica 91–5 Panama  (27 August 2017)
Biggest defeat
Colombia 136–0 Costa Rica  (25 September 2024)
World Cup
Appearances	0

National Squads 2009 - 2012

Costa Rica in 2009

The Costa Rica national rugby union team represents Costa Rica in international rugby union. The nation have yet to play in a Rugby World Cup tournament. The Costa Rica national rugby team played their first international in 2005 defeating their opponents Panama by 60–0.

In December, 2007, Costa Rica A & B sides participated in the First Central American Rugby cup. The other competing teams were Panama and Guatemala. Costa Rica A came first in this tournament, Panama 2nd, Guatemala 3rd, and Costa Rica B 4th.

In December 2009, Costa Rica hosted the IRB Consur B tournament. The other competing nations were Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Costa Rica. The final results were Colombia finishing first, Venezuela second, Peru third, and Costa Rica fourth.

After finishing fourth behind Peru, Venezuela and Colombia in the 2010 and 2011 CONSUR B tournaments, Costa Rica played in the newly created CONSUR C tournament in 2012. They won this tournament, beating Guatemala, Ecuador and El Salvador.

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by the Costa Rican national XV at test level up until 23 November 2019:

Against	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	% Won
Brazil	1	0	1	0	0%
Cayman Islands	1	0	1	0	0%
Colombia	5	0	5	0	0%
Ecuador	7	3	3	1	42.86%
El Salvador	6	4	2	0	66.67%
Guatemala	5	2	2	1	40%
Mexico	1	0	1	0	0%
Nicaragua	2	2	0	0	100%
Panama	6	5	1	0	83.33%
Peru	6	0	6	0	0%
Venezuela	4	0	4	0	0%
Total	43	16	25	2	37.21%

In December 2012, Costa Rica played in the newly created CONSUR C tournament. They won this tournament, beating Guatemala by 37 to 10, Ecuador by 33 to 8 and El Salvador by 57 to 3.

This unprecedented achievement was the result a hardworking staff and a 5 months preparation during which more than 100 players were called for trials. Coach Francisco José "El Gordo Secret" Galarreta Apaestegui and his manager Wadya "Dr. Evil" Sauma put up a team united by personal sacrifice, friendship and a common dream that lead them into victory. The 2012 Costa Rican rugby union team demonstrated the country's rugby at its best, displaying some players from every union.

The 2012 CONSUR C 25-player squad:

Player	Position	Club
Marco Blanco	Prop	Coronado RC
Guillermo Lavari	Prop	Stag RFC
Jefry Vargas	Prop	Cadejos RC
Marvin Taylor Ebanks	Prop	Montreal Irish RFC
Claudio Carrizo	Hooker	Stag RFC
Alexis Devitre	Lock	Universitarios Club de Rugby
Meyer Zúñiga Fernández	Lock	Cartago RC
Hugo López Póveda	Lock	Cartago RC
Nicolas Broggi	No. 8	Universitarios Club de Rugby
Marlon Cerdas Blanco	No. 8	Coronado RC
Fernando Ramírez Esquivel	Flanker	Wák RC
Pierric Béros	Flanker	Stag RFC
Sebastián Gutiérrez del Valle	Scrum Half	Stag RFC
Leonardo Muñoz Recalde	Scrum Half	Wák RC
Iván Bogantes Miranda	Fly Half	Universitarios Club de Rugby
Ignacio Maqueda	Fly Half	Stag RFC
Lucas Withington	Fly Half / Center	Stag RFC
Rafael Ulloa Beeche	Center	Wák RC
Franklin Zúñiga	Center	Stag RFC
Rafael López Póveda	Full Back	Cartago RC
Ariel Apuy	Full Back	Universitarios Club de Rugby
Juan José Mata Zúñiga	Wing	Universitarios Club de Rugby
Gustavo Patiño	Wing	Cadejos RC
César Salas	Wing	Cadejos RC
Byron Monge Benavides	Wing	Universitarios Club de Rugby

• Costa Rica on rugbydata.com
• Universitarios Club de Rugby Costa Rica on rugbyuniversitarios.com